How long.....

Shelster · 17 Apr 2014 at 10:13

....is a piece of string.....

No, serious question, how long would it take a competent mechanic to replace both front discs and pads and rear drums and shoes on a Fiat 500?

only asking as we had MOT / service on ours the other day and Vospers advised that they needed changing as front was down to 18.2 (which is min I believe) and discs were showing scoring, plus they have not been changed in 6 years of having the car (57K). They priced it in at £340 odd :eek:

I have been on Europarts and can get all parts for £124.00

Not knowing where to start on working on a car, am not that confident of working on something as important as the brakes, so would prefer to have a professional do the work.

Cheers

Renton · 17 Apr 2014 at 10:25

Couple of hours I would think barring any other issues that may pop up, so @ £100/h that price does not seem to far off the mark if it includes the parts

Edit- actually 100/h is probably high for a normal garage, guess i'm used to paying stupid rates

Shelster · 17 Apr 2014 at 10:27

Cheers Renton,

The price they quoted was for fronts only....I thought it best to change the whole lot, so that was why I have added in the rears too

sovietspybob · 17 Apr 2014 at 10:59

Do the rears need doing? Rear drums & shoes on little hatchbacks tend to last for absolutely ages.

Haggisman · 17 Apr 2014 at 11:06

Renton said:
Couple of hours I would think barring any other issues that may pop up, so @ £100/h that price does not seem to far off the mark if it includes the parts

Edit- actually 100/h is probably high for a normal garage, guess i'm used to paying stupid rates

Couple of hours to swap discs and pads? I'd be taking it somewhere else if it takes them that long!

Never worked on a Fiat 500 before, so maybe they're extremely difficult, but I managed all 4 corners of a Primera including changing a seized caliper and replacing a handbrake cable in under 3 hours, and I'm not even a mechanic

Edit: just saw it was drums on the rear - guess they might take longer?

rodenal · 17 Apr 2014 at 11:15

I'm completely incompetent and it'd take me about 2 hours to do front discs/pads then rear shoes on your average car.

That includes me going to find the biggest pole I can to undo the rear hub nuts, inevitable going back into the house for some different tools, hitting and swearing at rusty stuff and generally not being in a hurry.

Also, as above rear shoes tend to last a very, very long time.

ttaskmaster · 17 Apr 2014 at 12:56

Parts plus £30 per hour is probably a reasonable average.

How many hours it takes depends mostly on how rusty and knackered your car is.
I've seen some very gifted mechanics take hours to do a five minute job, simply because the vehicles had never been looked after.

bledd · 17 Apr 2014 at 12:59

ttaskmaster said:
Parts plus £30 per hour is probably a reasonable average.

How many hours it takes depends mostly on how rusty and knackered your car is.
I've seen some very gifted mechanics take hours to do a five minute job, simply because the vehicles had never been looked after.

This

Malc · 17 Apr 2014 at 13:11

ttaskmaster said:
Parts plus £30 per hour is probably a reasonable average.

Which garages charge only £30 an hour these days?

Best I've found in the last couple of years is £45.

PermaChanged · 17 Apr 2014 at 13:22

rodenal said:
That includes me going to find the biggest pole I can to undo the rear hub nuts

Bloody immigrants taking our jobs :mad:

xs2man · 17 Apr 2014 at 13:28

Malc said:
Which garages charge only £30 an hour these days?

Best I've found in the last couple of years is £45.

Lucky me then. The 2 I use are both £30 p/h

sovietspybob · 17 Apr 2014 at 13:35

Jesus that's cheap, Where do you live, 1997?

xs2man · 17 Apr 2014 at 13:37

1989 judging by the decor in the local pub.

zipp0r · 17 Apr 2014 at 13:46

30mins per disc brake. it is seriously easy to do! dont bother with the rear shoes.

bobuk · 17 Apr 2014 at 14:43

5 mins (theres always someone that will do it cheaper on here)

ttaskmaster · 17 Apr 2014 at 16:02

Malc said:
Which garages charge only £30 an hour these days?
Best I've found in the last couple of years is £45.

Stop going to stupid places like Kwik Fit then!!

I personally use an independant mechanic who is locally known and highly recommended by all his customers.

malfunkshun · 17 Apr 2014 at 19:05

£30-£40/hour is generally what the indies charge down this way. I know of one that will charge you £30/hour if he supplies the parts and £35 if you supply them (cheeky ******) so I don't go there.
I'd do them myself, but they are a critical item so if you aren't happy in any way get someone else to.